Industrial control and automation systems are often used to automate large and complex industrial processes. These types of systems routinely include wireless networks that facilitate communications with a wide range of industrial field devices. The field devices can include wireless sensors, wireless actuators, and wireless controllers. One example wireless network protocol being developed is the ISA100.11a protocol
A field device used in an ISA100.11a wireless network is typically required to have a local device interface that can be used to provide out-of-band (OOB) provisioning data to the field device. The provisioning process typically requires the use of a computer-based application (referred to as a “provisioning tool”) that can transfer provisioning data to the field device. However, having to use this provisioning tool in addition to conventional configuration and monitor tools incurs additional complexity and cost for users.